Family Portrait
by Xihlkage
Summary: They’re yelling again. I hate it when they yell 'cause everything goes wrong. Songfic ML.


_Disclaimer: You know the drill, not mine... well the story is but not the characters or the song... which is by Pink... if you were wondering._

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_Momma please stop cryin, I can't stand the sound  
Your pain is painful and its tearin' me down  
I hear glasses breakin as I sit up in my bed  
I told dad you didn't mean those nasty things you  
said _

They were yelling again. I hate it when they yell because Mommy starts crying and Daddy always leaves. I went into Zachary's room and found him playing with the action figure that Daddy brought back for him from the last time he went away after their fighting. He was sad so I sat next to him and hugged him. I placed my hands over his ears to drown out the fighting. Finally I heard a door slam and the sound of glass breaking against the wall. Daddy was gone, it was over, I took my hands off of Zach's ears. He continued to play with his doll while I sat there and watched. Mommy walked into the room and hugged us both, she wasn't crying anymore but her eyes were all red and swollen.

Daddy didn't come back for three days, I didn't mean to upset him, I didn't mean to hurt them, I wish they would stop.

You fight about money, bout me and my brother  
And this I come home to, this is my shelter  
It ain't easy growin up in World War III  
Never knowin what love could be, you'll see  
I don't want love to destroy me like it has done  
my family

Daddy took me to a hotel with him today. He said he is going to live here for a while until Mommy can get her own place and he can have the apartment back. I didn't understand, why weren't they going to live together? I asked if he loved Mommy anymore and he said with all his heart but he couldn't do this anymore. I told him I'm sorry for hitting Zachary today and that it was okay, I'm not going to do it again and he can come home. He said that that isn't it, it's more complicated than that and he can't go home.

_  
Can we work it out? Can we be a family?  
I promise I'll be better, Mommy I'll do anything  
Can we work it out? Can we be a family?  
I promise I'll be better, Daddy please don't  
leave  
_

Mommy came to pick us up from Daddy's apartment. She moved back into Auntie Cindy's house again. Mommy and Daddy didn't talk to each other or even look at each other. I didn't understand why they are doing this. I asked Mommy if she still loved Daddy and she said she does with all her heart but she just couldn't do this anymore. I told her Daddy said that too and that they could change and everything will be okay again and we can live happily ever after like in the fairy tales they tell me at night. She said it was more complicated than that and that she didn't think Daddy wanted that anymore.

_  
Daddy please stop yellin, I can't stand the sound  
Make mama stop cryin, cuz I need you around  
My mama she loves you, no matter what she says  
its true  
I know that she hurts you, but remember I love  
you, too _

They're fighting over us now. Mommy wants to keep us and so does Daddy. I ran into the room and tell them that we can all live together and they can both have us forever and ever. Mommy told Auntie Cindy to take me to Uncle Joshua's but I told her to take Zach because he's only three and I'm seven so I'm old enough to stay and help Daddy and Mommy make up. She told me that they needed to do that on their own. I told her that I could help and everything will be okay because in the fairy tales everything works out in the end so this would to. She took me to Uncle Joshua's anyways.

I ran away today, ran from the noise, ran away  
Don't wanna go back to that place, but don't have  
no choice, no way  
It ain't easy growin up in World War III  
Never knowin what love could be, well I've seen  
I don't want love to destroy me like it did my  
family

Daddy came over to Auntie Cindy's apartment and woke everyone up. He was yelling and slurring his words and he couldn't stand up straight. I was worried about what was wrong with him but I didn't know what time it was but I was tired of the fighting so I took Zach and we left. I didn't want him to hear the fighting anymore. It was starting to get light out and there were people everywhere but no one paid us any attention. The city was dirty and we had to sneak past the sector checkpoints but eventually we got to Uncle Alec's house. He called mommy and she came over. She looked scared which scared me because mommy was never scared. She called me her little girl and told me not to run off like that again. Daddy didn't come.

Can we work it out? Can we be a family?  
I promise I'll be better, Mommy I'll do anything  
Can we work it out? Can we be a family?  
I promise I'll be better, Daddy please don't  
leave

Daddy said it was her fault that we ran away. Mommy said it was his fault that we ran away. I didn't take Zach this time. I left and I didn't go to Uncle Joshua's house or Uncle Alec's house because they would just call mommy or daddy and they might get mad at me. I shouldn't have left. I thought of going home but I didn't want to. They fought too much and I didn't want them to get mad at me for leaving. A nice man named Ames talked to me. He asked me my name so I said Tinga and he told me he would take me somewhere nice. I asked him if he could stop mommy and daddy from fighting so much. He told me that he could. He was a nice man.

In our family portrait, we look pretty happy  
Let's play pretend, let's act like it comes  
naturally  
I don't wanna have to split the holidays  
I don't want two addresses  
I don't want a step-brother anyways  
And I don't want my mom to have to change her  
last name

Mr. Ames called mommy today but I wasn't aloud to listen. He told me that it was grown up stuff and that I was too young. I told him that I was almost eight and that I was all grown up now but he only laughed at me and sent me to the kitchen to eat something. I've been staying with him for three days and it's been pleasant staying with him. He told me that he was a friend of mommy's and that he told her that he would take care of me for a while. She didn't come get me so I believed him but he still hasn't stopped mommy and daddy from fighting yet. I wish he would hurry because I miss Zach and mommy and daddy before they fought. I want it to be the way it was before they wouldn't stop fighting.

In our family portrait we look pretty happy  
We look pretty normal, let's go back to that  
In our family portrait we look pretty happy  
Let's play pretend, act like it goes naturally

I have a picture of before. Mr. Ames asks me to give it to him for a while but I don't want to because I don't want it to be lost or ruined. It's a nice picture and we're all happy in it. Mommy and Daddy are hugging and holding baby Zach while I sit in Mommy's lap. We were all happy then and I don't understand what went wrong. Mr. Ames called Mommy again and I couldn't help but listen. He said he wanted to know where his son was and that he was treating me well but that could change. He was being really mean to Mommy and he yelled at her. He was confusing me but when he was done talking to Mommy he was nice again. I wonder why he was yelling, I don't like yelling. He told me that Mommy and Daddy were never going to get back together and that I would have to choice which one to live with. I told him that I vowed to never fall in love. He laughed at me again.

In our family portrait we look pretty happy  
(Can we work it out? Can we be a family?)  
We look pretty normal, let's go back to that  
(I promise I'll be better, Mommy I'll do  
anything)  
In our family portrait we look pretty happy  
(Can we work it out? Can we be a family?)  
Let's play pretend act and like it comes so  
naturally  
(I promise I'll be better, Daddy please don't  
leave)  
In our family portrait we look pretty happy  
(Can we work it out? Can we be a family?)  
We look pretty normal, let's go back to that  
(I promise I'll be better, Daddy please don't  
leave)

He's being really mean now. I've been her nine days now and he's calling Mommy everyday now and yelling. He locks me in my room and he won't let me come out unless it's to go to the bathroom or to eat something. He asked me if I knew a kid named Ray, I told him no but then I remembered the Ray that was in my kindergarten class. I told him that he was a bully but then Mr. Ames yelled at me and called me stupid, he sent me to my room and I told him that I was ready to go home now. He told me that I wasn't going home. I cried myself to sleep, I missed Mommy and Daddy and Zach.

Daddy don't leave  
Daddy don't leave  
Daddy don't leave  
Turn around please  
Remember that the night you left you took my  
shining star?  
Daddy don't leave  
Daddy don't leave  
Daddy don't leave  
Don't leave us here alone

Mr. Ames took the picture away and burned it in the fire, then he yelled at me for cry and called me a stupid child. He told me that my parents don't love me and that if they did they would have given him his son back. I told him that they do love me and that they would get back together and that we would all live happily ever after and that he was just a mean old man who didn't know what he was talking about. He hit me and it hurt so much. I cried myself to sleep. What if Mommy and Daddy didn't want me anymore? Is that why they haven't come for me? Were they punishing me for running away? I wanted to go home really bad now.

Mom will be nicer  
I'll be so much better, I'll tell my brother  
Oh, I won't spill the milk at dinner  
I'll be so much better, I'll do everything right  
I'll be your little girl forever  
I'll go to sleep at night

Mommy came and took me home today. She came with Uncle Alec and Uncle Joshua. She was happy and crying again but she was smiling. She said that everything was going to be okay again and that she was there and she wasn't going to let anything happen to me ever again. We went back to Auntie Cindy's house and Daddy was there and he was crying too but smiling like Mommy. Auntie Cindy held me for a long time and told me how happy she was to have me home and when I looked over to Mommy and Daddy they were smiling and Daddy had his arm around Mommy and they weren't fighting.

Everything was good. It took a long time for Mommy and Daddy to live with each other again and they have to go talk to some lady every once in a while. They still fight but not as much and they would stop if they thought we heard. Everything is still different but it's better and that's alright with me.

* * *

_A/N: I have no idea why I wrote it but this was the result of sitting down at my comp. and spewing out what was in the noggin'. Hope you enjoyed it._


End file.
